A New King of Magazines Emerges

In 1922, the same year Henry Luce and Briton Hadden founded Time magazine in New York City, Edwin Thomas Meredith launched a title called Fruit, Garden and Home in Des Moines, Iowa.

Two years later, the magazine changed its name to Better Homes and Gardens, today one of the biggest-selling titles in the U.S. and a core product of Meredith Corp., the Iowa-based TV and magazine firm still controlled by the Meredith family. It is now...